寅 Tiger

寅 (In), the Tiger, is third in the cycle and opens the year itself: it stands for the first month of the old calendar, the start of spring by the solar terms, and the hours from three to five in the morning when the sky begins to lighten. Its direction is east by northeast and its element is Wood, the rising kind. The Tiger is read as courage at the threshold. Korea has loved the tiger more than almost any animal; it appears in folk paintings as a guardian, often with a magpie, and in countless tales that begin "back when tigers smoked pipes."

Say the first word in one room today, a meeting, a group chat, a dinner table. Tiger energy is said to show in opening the door for others, so notice what follows when you go first.

Tiger years are traditionally said to sit well with Horse (午) and Dog (戌), the Fire harmony group, and to clash with the Monkey (申) across the circle. Treat these as old stories to test against real friends, not as rules.

In Korean the Tiger year is 호랑이띠 (horangi-tti). 호랑이도 제 말 하면 온다 (horangi-do je mal hamyeon onda), "speak of the tiger and it comes," is said when someone appears just as you mention them. 호랑이 담배 피우던 시절, "the days when tigers smoked," is how Korean fairy tales begin.